a puzzlement

[calimac]

The news has been getting out, both within and outside the SF community, that Alan Beatts, owner of Borderland Books in San Francisco, has been credibly accused of physical and sexual assault by women close to him. I'll leave out the details; you can read them at the above links.

As John Scalzi has pointed out, such accusations particularly hurt when the perpetrator is someone you know and like. And a lot of people in the SF community know and like Alan. Including me.

So what should we, as interested and concerned outside observers, do about it? A lot of events scheduled at Borderlands have been canceled, starting with Jo Walton's last night which disappeared that morning - that's how sudden this has been - and a lot of people have declared that, much as it will hurt both the independent bookstore community and their own purchase of SF, they won't do business with Borderlands any more so long as Alan is associated with it.

But here's something that nobody I've read has commented on. Brian Keene, the podcaster who broke the story to widespread attention also said this:

Both women, I think it's important to note here, both of these women have told me, on the record, they don't want to "cancel" Alan. I'm using the popular term. His daughter told us, quote: "He did a lot of good in my life. He made it possible for me to move to San Francisco, he did his best to provide me support while I was growing up, and for the majority of my life he was my best friend. I don't want me speaking out about what happened to come across as me trying to destroy his life or to get revenge on him. This absolutely sucks and I wish it wasn't the case. ..." Alan's ex-girlfriend echoed this, stating that they just want the public to be informed and they want him to get treatment and help.

But then Keene immediately went on to say that, despite his long-standing connection with Alan and Borderlands, he will not be doing any more signings there.

Is that not "canceling" Alan? If it isn't, what would be? When these women say they don't want to "cancel" him, do they mean that they're not asking us to cease patronizing Borderlands? If not, what are they preferring that we do?

I've never been in a position to visit Borderlands often, and I'm not planning on going up to San Francisco for any purpose so long as the virus reigns, but someday it will happen and I'd like a little guidance here. I'm not eager to be more outraged and indignant than the actual victims of the actual crime. It is a puzzlement.

Comments

[cynthia1960]

I think John Scalzi has a very good idea. He is part of the group of folks getting paid back for the loan to buy the new store in the Haight, and he is going to take any loan repayments he gets and pass that money plus more on to RAINN. Any group working to help victims of sexual abuse would be worthy recipients of such money.

So...if you buy books there to keep an independent genre fiction store alive...match and surpass that total in gifts to RAINN, shelters for people at risk, there are lots of places worthy of assistance.

If you are a yearly supporter (we are), match or surpass that in a donation.

As I see it, Borderlands is going to be best served in the long term by Alan not being part of the store (buy him out?). I hope he gets treatment and help. But him in that store is harming our community right now.

If we continue on acting like nothing is wrong with this situation, Borderlands becomes yet another missing stair in the community. The speculative fiction community has enabled abusers for far too long and it has to stop.

[calimac]

That's certainly a response, though in Scalzi's case he's using it to solve the problem that he's already invested money in the store that can't be easily pulled out.

My question is more, what are the victims asking the customers and general public to do? And if it's not to cease doing business with the store, should we be reluctant to follow that advice?

[cynthia1960]

Since Emma and I have been supporting the store yearly, we need to reconcile our past support with wanting to help victims of sexual abuse.

I don't think that the folks Alan harmed have explicitly said what they want done, and they are *not obligated* to tell us anything they don't want out in the world or provide us solutions. Some folks who have been abused can and do choose to tell us what they'd like done, but it isn't something we should expect to be given.

I'm trying personally to look at restorative and transformative ways to serve justice, and they can manifest in very different ways. We have to figure this out on our own.

[calimac]

Of course they're not obligated to tell us anything, but they have told us something, phrased with considerable intensity, and at first glance it seems to be the opposite of what people are doing. So I'm trying to parse this.

[cynthia1960]

It will take some internal work to figure out what works for you. Worry less about what other folks are doing.

[emceeaich]

As for the reparations to his daughter and ex-partner, that's their call.

But Alan's actions harmed our community, and we have a right as a community to set reparations, and mitigate the harm we've done.

Having supported the store not knowing what happened does not make us bad, but we do have a burden to address the harm.

I do think that we need to put an end to the individual as "savior" idea in fandom. Bookstores must be community endeavors.

I think the store should be transferred to the community to operate.

[ranunculus]

Alan has been the driving force behind the store, with a big and very charismatic personality. Can the store survive without that drive and personality? I'm unsure.